A common procedure in the construction industry for installing electrical outlet boxes involves the use of a mounting bracket attached to a wall stud and adapted to receive and hold the outlet box. This practice is particularly applicable to the portion of the industry involved with commercial, large scale construction. The mounting brackets are made in a large assortment of styles and are useful in conjunction with both wooden and metal construction studs. Such mounting brackets are typically attached to the supporting studs by means of screws.
In the interest of saving material and labor, earlier versions of the mounting brackets were attached to a stud on one end of the bracket but were not supported on the other end of the bracket. It was found in use that a mounting bracket supported on only one end does not adequately resist a force tending to push the outlet box back into the space behind the face wall (the dry wall through which the open side of the outlet box is accessible), thus resulting in the mounted outlet box not being parallel to the face wall, which is an unacceptable condition.
An early attempt to stabilize an outlet box is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,337 to Medlin in which an integral bracket support was secured to the stud and the outlet box abutted a portion of the bracket. While this construction eliminated the need for a stabilizing extension, the method of stabilizing the bracket by passing screws through the dry wall as mentioned in Column 5, lines 5-6 of the patent, was found to be costly and labor intensive. In another illustration of a prior stabilizing practice, U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,060 to Medlin in Column 7, lines 25-27 refers to attaching an outlet box bracket to the back of a dry wall.
A later version of the mounting bracket has included means for stabilizing the bracket in relation to the face wall by providing a rearward projecting leg or extension adapted to contact a back dry wall and stabilize the end of the bracket opposite the end attached to the stud. A mounting bracket of the type having an extension is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,922 to Horsley for mounting a single outlet box and in U.S. Pat. 4,572,391 to Medlin for mounting a pair of electrical outlet boxes. While the leg or extension such as shown in the referred to Horsley and Medlin patents have assisted in stabilizing the bracket, use of the described leg or extension requires the presence of a back wall parallel to the face wall. In the absence of a back wall, the leg or extension serves no purpose and the bracket is generally unstable. In an unfinished, partially occupied office building, for example, the back walls are often not present. Additionally, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,356 to Medlin, an extension leg requires adjustment of its length according to the wall spacing. Also, the above mentioned brackets do not provide adequate support for outlet boxes installed in a ceiling.
It is also to be recognized that while the mounting flange has been offset from the front panel of an electrical outlet box mounting bracket as illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,693 to Medlin, the primary purpose of this offset has been to enable the dry wall ring to be recessed sufficiently to avoid bulging of the dry wall in front of the bracket. The step providing this offset has generally been formed at an angle rather in a perpendicular relation because of the purpose of the offset.
In another aspect of the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,525 to Coffey et al. illustrates an electrical outlet box mounting bracket having a step which offsets the stud mounting flange from the front panel of the bracket. While shown in the patent with the step positioned against a side surface of a stud, the patent in Column 2, lines 60-63, describes this type of bracket as depending for its stability on the presence of a pair of extension legs engaging a back wall. Thus, this type of bracket further illustrates dependency on the presence of a back wall for stabilizing the bracket which dependency has been eliminated by the present invention. Moreover, the type bracket described in the '525 patent does not lend itself to being installed in a ceiling.
A further aspect of the prior art recognizes the recent introduction by Erico Products, Inc. of what is referred to as the TH234 Quick Mount Box Support. This product is an electrical outlet box mounting bracket having a box stop and box hook adapted to rest on opposite sides of one side of an outlet box and a partial front plate which mounts the outlet box with only one mounting screw. The bracket, however, has an extension which does not contact or rest against the stud and which depends on the presence of a back wall for stability and lacks means independent of the extension for stabilizing the bracket.
In the practice of installing electrical outlet box mounting brackets, it is generally desirable to install the bracket such that it is "square" relative to the stud meaning that the bracket assumes a perpendicular relation relative to the stud. The conventional bracket does not depend for its stability on the bracket being installed in such a square relation. Thus, the bracket is frequently improperly installed on the job. In contrast, the bracket of the present invention does require that the bracket, in order to be stabilized, assume a square relation relative to the stud and thus meets a long-felt need in the industry.
A further practical consideration on the job is that electrical outlet box mounting brackets having extensions are frequently "lost" as to location once installed because the extensions get bent which permit the bracket to be bent and inadvertently covered over by the dry wall mechanic who fails to cut out an outlet box hole in the dry wall. This is particularly a problem when the bracket or the extension gets bent and there is no back wall. The bracket of the present invention, in contrast, cannot be lost in this manner since it cannot be properly installed except in a manner that insures it will not be lost.
Therefore, a general object of the present invention is to provide an outlet box mounting bracket capable of holding an outlet box in a more secure and stabilized manner with or without the presence of a dry wall on the backside of the stud.
An additional and more specific object of the invention is to provide an outlet box mounting bracket which, does not require use of an extension leg or the like and does not depend for its stability on the presence of a back dry wall opposite the face wall adjacent which the bracket is mounted.
Another object of the invention is to provide an outlet box mounting bracket which can be stabilized on either a wooden or metallic wall stud.
A further object is to provide an outlet box mounting bracket which can be stabilized on a stud whether the stud forms part of a wall or a ceiling construction.
A further object is to provide an electrical outlet box mounting bracket constructed such that if inadvertently covered over by a dry wall mechanic, will inherently reveal its location and thus will not be lost as are prior art brackets in the manner explained above.
These and additional objects will become apparent through the disclosure of the invention and disclosure of the several embodiments to follow.